Yesterday was a beautiful day, and we didn't have anything to do for orientation until 5 PM, so a bunch of us decided to make it a beach day! We got up early and took a ferry to Devonport, a peninsula about 15 minutes away from central Auckland.
Apparently, there were fortifications and bunkers built here during WWII for fear of a Russian invasion (one which never occurred). So the remains of all these bunkers and tunnels are still there and open for the public to walk around.
Once we were done with the beach, we headed back to t
he ferry. We just missed it, so we got ice cream while we were waiting! Then we headed back to the apartments to shower and get ready for International Students Quiz Night on campus. There was free pizza and several rounds of quiz questions, so a bunch of us went to that. No one from Loyola won anything, but oh well. We found out at the quiz night that people were trying to organize a pub crawl for the international students, so we all decided to go to that. We only went to two places, but it was a fun night.
Today I went to the bookstore to look at what books I need for class....a reminder that I'm not just here on vacation, even though that's what it seems like so far! Classes start on Monday, but we are going on a trip this weekend to Coromandel Peninsula! We're leaving early on Friday morning and coming home Sunday night so my next post will probably be about that. I hope everyone is doing well!
Here's the view from the ferry:
We all wore our bathing suits and packed lunches. We walked along the water and then out towards North Head, which is the remains of a volcanic cone.
We all wore our bathing suits and packed lunches. We walked along the water and then out towards North Head, which is the remains of a volcanic cone. 
We climbed up the cone, which was pretty steep at spots.
We had some amazing views over Auckland and I took a ton of pictures.
We climbed for a while, just exploring around the area.
Apparently, there were fortifications and bunkers built here during WWII for fear of a Russian invasion (one which never occurred). So the remains of all these bunkers and tunnels are still there and open for the public to walk around.We were all getting pretty hungry, so we just plopped ourselves on the grass and ate our picnic lunches. A couple of the boys had scoped out the swimming spots, so we walked down to a secluded beach. The water was pretty cold, so I just waded and didn't actually swim. It was still fun to be at the beach though!!
The weather here is very fickle and can go from bright blue skies to rain in a matter or minutes. And it did just that while we were there. While the sun was shining right above us, we could actually see the rain in the distance heading towards us. So....what did we do? We grabbed our stuff and headed for a bunker to wait for the rain to pass. It didn't take long, and soon the sun was back out and so were we.
Once we were done with the beach, we headed back to t
he ferry. We just missed it, so we got ice cream while we were waiting! Then we headed back to the apartments to shower and get ready for International Students Quiz Night on campus. There was free pizza and several rounds of quiz questions, so a bunch of us went to that. No one from Loyola won anything, but oh well. We found out at the quiz night that people were trying to organize a pub crawl for the international students, so we all decided to go to that. We only went to two places, but it was a fun night.Today I went to the bookstore to look at what books I need for class....a reminder that I'm not just here on vacation, even though that's what it seems like so far! Classes start on Monday, but we are going on a trip this weekend to Coromandel Peninsula! We're leaving early on Friday morning and coming home Sunday night so my next post will probably be about that. I hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
Lauren
1 comment:
The pictures look great and it's wonderful to be able to see what you're up to!
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